Mr. Ike 2026!

     On February 12th, the audience saw new and familiar faces among the boy contestants and the girl coordinators. Every year, the Mr. IKE contestants put on a hilarious performance during pageant night to mark the end of the Mr. IKE season. Throughout the night, the contestants are judged on multiple aspects, including their buddy segment, talent portion, hero speech, and impromptu question. Along with pageant night, the 2026 Mr. Ike's winner isn’t just decided on pageant night, but is based on how much each contestant has fundraised, letters, participation, and their standing in School (GPA, letters of Rec, and attendance).
     Throughout October-February, the Mr. IKE contestants have been working hard to raise as much money as possible for the foundation. They’ve been fundraising at local restaurants, volunteering at events for kids with special health-care needs, and even dropping three’s in the Mr. IKE vs Staff game for money. The coordinators choose five senior and five junior class guys as contestants each year. The Senior contestants are Mauro Hernandez, Elias Diaz, Salvador Farias-Valdez, Elijah Macias-Hernandez, and Juvenal Valdovinos. The Junior contestants are Trent Toki-Pati, Jorge Hernandez, Noe Maceda, Vincent York, and Tyler Stuewe. The coordinators work behind the scenes to ensure that the program runs smoothly. The Senior coordinators are Eleanor Suhm, Zabella Hickenbottom, Kayle Chandler, Zoie Sappenfield, and Fabiola Morales. The Junior coordinators are Luz Leyva, Yamilet Torres, Savannah Webber, Irene Pina, and Alyson Allen. 
     Each year, high schools like East Valley, West Valley, and Eisenhower collaborate with the Youthworks Foundation, a partnership between local high schools around the valley and the Memorial Foundation. The foundation allows School students to get involved in their community and give back to children with disabilities and other underlying health conditions. It is an excellent opportunity for kids to get involved in philanthropy and demonstrate their involvement in this community. The end goal of the program’s season is to raise the most money through fundraisers like takeovers and sporting events. This year’s Mr. IKE team raised just over $ 8,000. 
     On the big night, the Mr. Ike contestants and their coordinators came together to give a fun performance for the audience. The night started with a funny dance by the contestants, led by skits of a “buddy” and a contestant reenacting what the child aspires to become. Some kids aspired to be professional soccer players, and others wanted to become superheroes. Then, to add on to that, the audience got to see some of the contestants give their own talents. Lots of musical talent, karate, impersonating Michael Jackson’s dance moves, and we even had a dance from a Napoleon Dynamite lookalike. Then we had a joint dance between the coordinators and contestants. We learned about the story of the miracle child, Sophia Sanchez, and were brought to tears by the hero speeches the contestants had to give about a hero of their choosing. On a lighter note, the last portion of the pageant was the impromptu questions, which were followed by funny commentary.  

     At the end of the night, they crowned the contestant and coordinator who were most deserving with a $500 scholarship to attend their college. Mauro Hernandez and Ellie Suhm were crowned and supplied with a check to cap off the very successful Mr. IKE 2026 season.